


Dumpster Boys

by sentimental_boy



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 20:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15127055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentimental_boy/pseuds/sentimental_boy
Summary: “Foggy, it's just until her birthday.”“Are you sure you're going to get the reaction you're wanting by giving your girlfriend a stray cat you found in the garbage?”“I’m 95% sure. She told me about her cat that she had before he got old and died. He was feral when he was a kitten and she loved him. I don’t think she’d ever get an animal that wasn't a rescue.”“Of course not. She's dating you.”Matt furrows his brows. “What?”“Oh, come on. You're over there with your puppy eyes- that are too effective for a blind man, might I add. And your recklessness and your Catholic guilt. Claire literally found you in a dumpster and saved you, for Christ's sake. You are this cat. And that's not even counting that you’re both gingers."





	Dumpster Boys

 

Matt’s making his way home from a night of getting his ass handed to him. He’s exhausted, and in pain, and is planning on pulling you close and passing out the second he gets home. Then he hears meowing coming from an alley he’s passing. It’s not an uncommon thing but tonight it tugs at his heartstrings. He finds himself walking down the alley and crouching down by a pile of garbage. He listens as little paws make the trash bag crinkle as they walk across it.

“Hey, kittykitty, come here.” Matt makes little kissing noises as the cat follows his voice. “Come here. Kittykittykitty.”  He laughs to himself, imagining the criminals he apprehends watching him try to coax this kitten out of the garbage . 

The cat makes a little half purr half meow as it hears Matt’s voice. When it gets close enough, Matt scratches behind its ears, before he picks it up. “Hey, little guy. Are you all alone?”

The cat stops it’s purring to meow at Matt.

“Yeah?” Matt holds him closer. “Okay. you don’t have to be alone anymore.”

-0-

“Foggy, it's  just until her birthday.”

“Are you sure you're going to get the reaction you're wanting by giving your girlfriend a stray cat you found in the garbage ?”

“I’m 95% sure. She told me about her cat that she had before he got old and died. He was feral when he was a kitten and she loved him. I don’t think she’d ever get an animal that wasn't a rescue.”

“Of course not. She's dating you.”

Matt furrows his brows. “What?”

“Oh, come on. You're over there with your puppy eyes- that are too effective for a blind man, might I add. And your recklessness and your Catholic guilt. Claire  literally found you in a dumpster and saved you, for Christ's sake. You are this cat. And that's not even counting that you’re both gingers."

“So will you keep him here?”

Foggy sighs. “Yeah, fine.”

“Thanks, buddy, I owe you one.”

“Yeah, I’ll add it to your tab.”

-0-

You wake up in an empty bed on your birthday. It's disappointing but not surprising. Your disappointment melts away though when you notice a note in Matt’s messy scrawl on his pillow. 

I was hoping you’d sleep through this, but since you're up, I’m getting breakfast. Be home soon.

With that knowledge, you wrap the covers tighter around yourself and let yourself drift back to sleep . 

-0-

You wake to the bed dipping with a familiar weight. You poke your head out of the covers to see Matt getting situated against the headboard.

“Hey, Matt.”

“Hey.” He murmurs, kissing your head as you sit up next to him. “I got you something.”

“You didn’t have to.”

He laughs. “Well, it’s for both of us.”

“It’s not lingerie, is it?”

“If it was, I’d be feeling pretty dumb right about now. I’m pretty sure that’s the exact tone you used last April when you had to file your taxes. And no, it’s not lingerie. If it makes you feel better, I found it in the trash.”

“Is it you?”

He throws his head back. “That was one time. Claire is going to ruin any chance I had at looking like a badass to you.”

“No, you did that to yourself. But you’re not distracting me. What is it?”

He starts to unzip his hoodie, revealing his bare chest. It's a nice view, but it's becoming clear that it's a joke. 

"Very funny, Matt.  Not that I'm turning down morning sex but-" you're midway through your sentence when a little orange kitten pokes its head out and meows at you . 

“Oh my god.  Matt, I don’t know what makes you think you can sit there, being all soft with your shirtlessness, and bedhead, then add a kitten to it with no warning . You have no idea the amount of screeching that I’m holding back right now because of you and that kitten.”

The grin he’s been wearing since he unzipped his hoodie only gets wider. “Do you want to hold him?”

“Do I want to hold him. What kind of question is that?” 

Matt hands the kitten over, even as it clings to him. “It’s okay.” He soothes, petting the kitten’s head as it gets used to you. "Now, what's this about morning sex? You're not turning it down but..."

You roll your eyes. "I was going to say that it's hardly a rare thing. You're so busy gallivanting through the streets by the time I get home, it's not like we get to do it then."

"Ah."

You lean in and give him a peck on the lips and ruffle his hair before you move on. “Matt, he’s so cute, I’m so excited.”

“Me too. You know, I’ve never had a pet before.” He swallows. “When I lived with my dad, sometimes he could  barely afford to keep us in our little apartment. Then there was Stick with his no attachments. If they had allowed pets at the orphanage, Stick  probably would have told me to kill it as some sort of sick test. Then I was living in a stark dorm with Foggy, working my ass off for my degree.  Then the internship and almost job at L&Z. Now with Daredevil and starting our own firm- there hasn’t been a lot of room in my life for anything else . Having you around has grounded me, though. He can be a testament to our relationship.”

You smile, scooting closer and leaning back on him. “You bulldozed through a lot of topics there, Matt. Do you want to talk about any of them?”

“We can come back to my past another time. Right now the only thing I want to talk about is our future.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mhm.”

“What  specifically ?”

“How I want to be with you for the foreseeable future. And how I’d like to know if you’d like to do the same. You know, cats live around 17 years if you take care of them.” He grins.

“I do know that. 17 years is a long time.”

“It is. You’re not scaring off on me, are you?”

“Never.” You pause. “Wow, is this what a healthy, adult relationship feels like?”

He chuckles. “I wouldn’t know.” He leans in and rests his forehead on yours, lowering his voice. “You’re my first.”

“I’m rolling my eyes at you right now, I hope you know.”

He smiles and kisses your temple. “Noted.”

-0-

Later that night, Matt puts the kitten in his cardboard carrier so he doesn’t cause mischief through the night . You and Matt head to bed, but right as you’re getting comfortable in Matt’s arms, the kitten starts scratching at the box. He’s not kneading, it’s frantic, like he’s trying to get out.

“Do you think he’s scared?” You ask Matt. 

“ Maybe .  I think it’s more likely that he’s a kitten, and cats are  naturally nocturnal. If we ignore him, he should go to sleep.”

You can see Matt’s reasoning, and it’s a good suggestion. Until you hear the clawing stop too soon.

“Did he get out?” You ask.

Matt chuckles. “ I think he did.”

You get up and turn on the light to find the side of the makeshift carrier clawed open and the kitten nowhere in sight. “Where’d he go?”

Matt’s quiet for a moment. “He’s under the couch.”

When you move the couch, the kitten sprints toward the bedroom. As you follow him, you start looking under the bed, thinking he’d try to hide again. Then you hear Matt calling your name.

“What is it, Matt?”

“Come look.”

You stand and see the little kitten curled up against Matt. “Oh my god.”

Matt smiles at the adoration in your voice.

“That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” You state.

He cuddles it closer. “Well, come on.” He pulls back the covers with his spare hand.

You turn off the light and join Matt in the bed, the little kitten nestled between the two of you.

-0-

Over the next few days, you and Matt bond with your new addition to your little family. It’s not until now that you’ve  consciously realized that you  truly do see Matt as family.

“So, we still haven’t given him a name.” You point out as the kitten jumps into Matt’s arms.

Matt tilts his head to the side. “Describe him to me.”

“He’s a little ginger- like you- he’s a tabby but has a white belly and paws. He’s got chubby cheeks and big, green, eyes.”

“Wait, like me? My hair is brown. Or has Foggy been lying to me?”

“Matt, I’ve seen your roots. Not to mention coming home to the smell of hair color and brown dye on the sink on more than one occasion.” You run your hand through his hair. Matt Murdock is a ginger.

He sighs. “I guess you were going to find out sometime.”

“Matt, why did you feel like you needed to hide this from me?”

“I wasn’t hiding it so much as not advertising. I mean, blind jokes  and redhead jokes? That’s a lot for one man to handle.”

“People dare tease a blind man?”

“You’ve done it; on more than one occasion.”

“That's because you're my best friend and it's my job.”

He can’t stop the grin from spreading across his face at the title. It feels like so much more than  just being your boyfriend. The only way he can think to respond is to sit up and give you a sweet peck on the lips.

“Why does this still matter to you, though? Hair color is hell to my normal senses. I can’t imagine what it’s like for you.”

“It took me a while to find one I could tolerate. I don't bring it up because a lot of people think it’s emasculating. I started coloring it as soon as I got a job.  The other kids at the orphanage teased me  relentlessly about a lot of things, but my hair was a reoccurring theme . Of course, they made fun of me for coloring my hair too, but I figured that would go away  eventually . And it did.”

“So, you still dye your hair so people don’t make fun of you?”

“It’s  just not something I want to deal with. Now it would be more of an annoyance than anything else.”

“You know what this means.”

“What?”

“We get to have spa nights where we dye each other’s hair and read gossip magazines while we let it soak in.”

He laughs. “I’ll put it in my calendar. As long as you tell me in vivid detail  why Lupita Nyong'o was best dressed.”

“Uh, because she’s a goddess, that’s why.”

He takes your hand in his, placing a kiss to your knuckles. “You’re the only goddess I want to worship.”

You only ever cared about Matt’s blindness as much as he did. Which was to say: very little. But right now, you wish he could see your colossal eye roll. “You’re a ridiculous man, Matthew.”

“But I’m your ridiculous man.”

“That’s right.” You give him a sweet kiss. “So, we still haven't named him.” you point out.”

“Well, I gave him to you.”

"But you found him in a dumpster. You're his father now.”

Matt laughs. “Uh, I like O’Malley.”

“Like from The  Aristocats ?”

He grins with a little shrug. “It was one of my favorites when I was little. And he’s an orange, alley cat.”

“Awww, I didn’t know that. Matt, this is the sort of quality conversation I’m looking for here.”

“Well, I’m not a vigilante all the time. At least, I wasn’t always.”

“I love hearing about those days.”

He doesn’t respond except for a fleeting smile and tightening his arm around you. 

-0-

You knew this cat would be good for Matt- they’re known to reduce stress levels- but you didn’t know how good. In general, Matt seems to be in a better mood since O’malley became part of your lives. Today though, he’s worked up over a case. You don’t know if it’s legal or not, but you support him all the same. All you know is that he looks even more exhausted than usual. So, you walk over to him, placing O’malley in Matt’s lap and sitting beside him, curling into his side.

Matt lets out a sigh of relief as he allows himself a moment to come back to the present; to feel your soft skin pressing against his bare chest and your heart beating a soothing rhythm in his ears . O’malley curls up in his lap, purring away. Between the two of you, Matt can almost pretend he doesn’t hear ten different awful things happening all at once. He skims your side with his hand, leaning in to place a peck on your forehead.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

“Hey.”

“You okay?” He trails his hand down your arm to grasp your hand.

“I’m fine. You seemed stressed. More so than usual.”

He sighs. “Yeah, I have a lot on both my plates right now and I can’t concentrate on either of them.”

“All I'm hearing is that you need a break.” As the words leave your mouth, you can already hear Matt protesting, so you cut him off. “Come to bed. You’re no use to anyone like this. Even Daredevil has to sleep.

He sighs and lets you pull him up, scooping O'malley up with his free hand. “Alright, alright.”

As he settles into bed, he  silently thanks God that he has you around to ground him and pull him out of his thoughts. 


End file.
